17 hospitalized after chemical exposure at Longmont's Oskar Blues

Longmont Fire personnel seen cleaning up at Oskar Blues, where 17 employees were exposed to an undetermined chemical leak on Sunday. (Paul Aiken/Daily Camera)

Seventeen Oskar Blues employees were hospitalized after a chemical exposure at the Longmont restaurant and brewery Sunday, police confirmed.

At roughly 12:40 p.m., Longmont Fire's hazardous materials team responded to the restaurant, 1555 S. Hover Road, after the exposure, thought to have been caused by a broken hot water heater, began bothering some employees and customers, who complained of respiratory issues.

Other symptoms included eye irritation and vomiting.

Of the 17 people exposed, Longmont police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said eight were transported to Longmont United Hospital, and nine to Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette.

All have been discharged, according to Oskar Blues spokesman Chad Melis

Early haz-mat readings indicated the exposure's likely cause, but Fire Chief Jerrod Vanlandingham said those readings were inaccurate.

"After further investigation," he said, "definitive determination is not possible with the equipment of the Longmont Fire haz-mat team. We were able to rule out that this was a gas caused by the refrigerating system. Our best guess is that this is a result of a defective 200 gallon water heater.

"The hot water heater was found to be malfunctioning, causing it to attempt to light off over and over. We think the exhaust, which contains products of incomplete combustion, were being recirculated through a nearby evaporative cooler right above the fryer area where the employees had been working."

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Melis said the restaurant will be closed until the source of the leak can be located and repaired.

"We'd like to thank the Longmont police and fire and fire responders for being very timely and making sure that everybody was safe," Melis added.